📕 Part 1: Getting up early

This episode's vocabulary

The break of day - literary the time early in the morning when it starts getting light.

Static (adj.) - staying in one place without moving, or not changing for a long time.

Sleep in (phrasal verb) - to sleep until later in the morning than you usually do.

At the crack - very early in the morning, especially at the time when the sun first appears.

Industrious (adj.) - an industrious person works hard.

Schedule (noun) - a list of planned activities or things to be done showing the times or dates when they are intended to happen or be done.

Cater to (verb) - to satisfy a need or to provide what is wanted or needed by a particular person or group.

Distraction (noun) - something that prevents someone from giving their attention to something else.

Disruption (noun) - the action of preventing something, especially a system, process, or event, from continuing as usual or as expected.

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Questions and Answers

M: Do you often get up early in the morning?

R: Yeah. Um, 05:30 is my regular wake up time during the week and even on days, it's not required. I still wake up at seven or eight o'clock in the morning, just as day breaks. It means I have enough time to do everything I have planned.

M: What do you usually do when you get up early?

R: Well, I think we discussed this before and not much has changed since then. It's a pretty fixed routine. I work out for about 45 minutes, breakfast, which is always tuna and protein shake and sirniki. And I'll go for a shower, get dressed and then head out to get the metro. And then after that, it's the bus to school. I think that's good, though. I get more done that way.

M: Is breakfast important to you?

R: Um, it didn't used to be, but it is now. If I didn't have breakfast I wouldn't have the fuel I need to get through the day and get everything done that I wanted to get done. That's why it's pretty static. Though I still enjoy it despite that.

M: Do you get up early on the weekends?

R: I try to sleep in usually, but sometimes I have to be up at the crack to do things for work. I don't mind it, though, since it's usually pretty easy stuff. It still needs to be done, though.

M: What kinds of people usually get up early?

R: Oh, highly industrious people or people with busy schedules. And you have to get a lot done by day's end. Those would be the main groups, but there are shift workers and people who work across multiple time zones who might have to get up to cater to their schedules and the needs of their clients, respectively. Some people do it out of a personal belief it's just better for you. There's this book called "The Five am Club" that describes this process of early rising and how it benefits. Well the benefits thereof, I suppose.

M: What are the benefits of getting up early?

R: I could see the sunrise. That's always nice. And there are probably fewer distractions and disruptions because there are fewer people connected to that is the lack of noise. My streets are always pretty peaceful at that time in the morning, for example.

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Discussion

M: Thank you, Rory! Do you know what's the best part of getting up early?

R: No!

M: Nothing. Oh, he's laughing , dear listener. I cause a laugh.

R: That's good.

M: Yeah. Oh, I totally, totally hate getting up early. Just talking about it just, you know, drains me. Rory, you said that you get up every day 05:30? In the afternoon?

R: During the week.

M: In the morning?

R: 5:30 in the morning on Mondays. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

M: Are you nuts?

R: No.

M: Have you been eating nuts, so now you're nuts?

R: I just need that time to get ready for work in the day. It works well for me.

M: God. 05:30 in the morning. Jesus I can barely get myself up at what, ten. Whoa.

R: What time do you go to bed though?

M: Twelve.

R: Well, there you go. I go to bed at like half nine.

M: Half nine? So you go to bed nine thirty and you get up at five thirty.

R: Yeah. On a Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Other days I can sleep in because I have an amazing job.

M: Oh my God.

R: I only work three days a week plus whatever stuff we have to do for the podcast. It's great.

M: So we can say wake up early or get up early. The difference is that first you wake up and then you get up.

R: Well, some people get up, but they never wake up.

M: That's me.

R: That's me too.

M: So you can also say to have an early start, to rise early.

R: To be an early riser.

M: To be an early riser or to be a morning person. So I'm not a morning person. And Rory is an early bird.

R: Early bird gets the worm.

M: Oh, God. Take all of them. I'm going to get the pizza.

R: Well, if Vanya decides to order it at some point.

M: You can also say I prefer getting up at the crack of dawn.

R: Or getting up at the crack.

M: At the crack. What does it mean?

Same thing. Means waking up in the morning when dawn is starting or when dawn is breaking, which is the other collocation.

M: Yeah, you guys, it's pretty cool to say, oh, I never get up at the crack or at the crack of dawn. So pretty much at 6am in the morning and flipping five thirty in the morning. Rory is crazy.

R: Oh it's only three days a week.

M: Still crazy.

R: I hardly... Well when I, when I come March I will hardly work. It's going to be amazing.

M: You can also say like oh I never get up at an ungodly hour. Basically, God ungodly hour at a crazy hour meaning like very early. So just as day breaks, Rory gets up just as daybreaks.

R: Yeah, which is when the sun comes up.

M: And Rory, when you talked about your breakfast, you said that you have tuna protein shake and sirniki. Sirniki is like cottage cheese thingies from cottage cheese, which is a very Russian.

R: They are cottage cheese fritters, which is what you would call them. Although mine are never warm, they're always cold.

M: But cottage cheese is kind of a type of cheese. It's kind of a dairy product.

R: Yeah, but cottage cheese in the UK is very different to what it's like here.

M: Yeah, but we're talking Russian cottage cheese.

R: Yeah. The best kind.

M: You said that you have tuna and some dairy kind of product together.

Well, not at the same time obviously. I'll have the tuna first, then I'll have the sirniki.

M: God, wow.

R: Tuna salad. It's nice. There's beans in it.

M: For breakfast?

R: Yeah.

M: Oh my God. Good Lord. OK. Dear listener, Rory is very strange.

R: Everybody knew that we've been doing this podcast for over a year.

M: Yes, and pretty much this is his fuel to get him going, to get him through the day.

R: Yes.

M: So he has his tuna. He has protein and some Russian cottage cheese stuff to get him through the day. What is static in your morning routine?

R: Everything, it never changes. In the same way the menu for breakfast never changes.

M: So you'd never have a McDonald's for breakfast?

R: Oh, no. I'd be very ill.

M: Yesterday's pizza?

R: Ok, one time, but that was when we ordered three pizzas by accident, so someone had to eat those things.

M: So when you say something is static, it never changes, it's pretty much the same. So who gets up early? Rory said highly industrious people get up early.

R: Mm hmm. Well, it's people that are very productive.

M: Are you highly industrious?

R: I was and will be only for this month. And then I'm done being industrious. Enough!

M: And what are you going to do with your life?

R: Have a life.

M: Yeah, but when you don't have to work, will you get up at stupid o'clock to do your thing?

R: I'll still wake up early in the morning because that's the fixed schedule for the school that I work for. But I'm not doing any extra work, so there's no need for me to get up earlier on other days.

M: Hmm. OK.

R: I can chill. I can rest on my laurels, which is a great way of saying just relax and enjoy the moment.

M: You're what?

R: Laurels.

M: Laurels. Rory's laurels, what the hell is this?

R: This is an expression to rest on your laurels. It just means to relax on the comfortable space that you've created for yourself.

M: Oh, wow. So just to chill.

R: Yeah. But instead you say rest on your laurels because you're aiming for a band 9 score.

M: Band 9 score.

R: Band 9 score.

M: You also said that some people have a lot to get done by day's end.

R: Yeah. So day breaks and then day ends. Same video game actually I think.

M: Hmm. And this is a nice kind of structure to have a lot of things done, right. Or to get things done, right. I get up early to get everything done on time. And shift workers. So people who work shifts like night shifts. Day shifts.

R: Day shifts, morning, evening.

M: Have you ever worked shifts?

R: It's a good question. No.

M: Good for you. Why is that good for me?

R: My friend Steve is a nurse. He works the night shifts

M: And then he sleeps during the day like vampires.

R: He's a goth. So that's okay for him.

M: Okay, you can cater to schedules. So cater to people's interests or cater to schedules. Explanation.

R: Oh, yes.

M: Now, go.

R: Well, we've explained this before, I think. If you cater to something, it just means that you help make it happen or you support something.

M: Thank you, Rory.

R: It's OK.

M: Yes.

R: For example I cater to the needs of you and Vanya by showing up to work. Not on time, but I show up to work.

M: Yes, dear listener, just remember. That what's the best part of waking up early? It's nothing.

R: Unlike our answers, which have everything you need.

M: For a high score.

R: So you want to let this be your wake up call for getting high level vocabulary.

M: This is good.

R: The puns are horrendous.

M: We are on the ball today because we got up early.

R: Did we?

M: We did.

R: Did we?

M: Yes. 9 am is early.

R: Ok, I compromised. I got up at like 8.

M: Our Vanya got up at 7.

R: I was up at eight. You were up at nine?

M: Nine. Oh Vanya is the winner. Thank you very much for listening. Hugs and kisses. Bye!

R: Bye!

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